


time has passed but you're the same.

by undeadasleep



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), The Originals (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Bonding, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, One Shot, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Star-crossed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25455268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/undeadasleep/pseuds/undeadasleep
Summary: hope mikaelson thought ryan clarke was gone from her life years ago, but sometimes, your past comes back, even when you've buried your feelings down deep.
Relationships: Ryan Clarke & Hope Mikaelson, Ryan Clarke/Hope Mikaelson
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27





	time has passed but you're the same.

they weren't meant to be a love story, and they knew that, deep in their souls.

how could they be? they had tried— and failed, to be fair— to kill each other multiple times for no reason other than they were destined to be enemies. and yet, a fondness had grown. hope didn't know why, and she certainly didn't like it. forcing agent clarke to go into the eternal darkness of malivore with her was out of necessity, not want. but, she supposed, being stuck in nothingness for an undetermined period of time with someone, anyone, was incentive enough to get to know them.

and god, had hope gotten to know him. she had learned the way his lips sloped when he smiled, how his eyes always had a mischievous glint no matter how he felt. a twitch of his eyebrow meant he was angry, a twitch of the cheek that he was sad. hope had learned these things in their months together, no matter how hard she had tried not to.

but agent clarke had died years ago, when hope was still a student at the salvatore school and felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. he had sacrificed himself to malivore to defeat his father, to... to save her. hope was on the verge of becoming a full tribrid to save the world until clarke took the plunge. and while monsters still cropped up from time to time afterwards, hope was able to rest easy for once in her life. sure, there would always be someone just around the corner, some long lost enemy of her father come to kill her or torture her or both, but as long as she was in the halls of the salvatore school, she was safe.

but hope wasn't a student anymore. she was twenty-three and back in new orleans where she belonged, the memory of her father on every street and in every alley. she didn't mind it, though. she had thought coming home to new orleans would be devastating, constantly reminding her of the people she'd lost. instead, it brought her peace. she could feel her mother lingering in rousseau's, could practically envision her leaning against the bar as her aunt camille poured drinks. she could see her uncle elijah writing in his journal and watching the streets. she was being watched over, no matter where she was.

she knew she was being watched at the moment, though it wasn't by the deceased. she sat at the bar in rousseau's, sipping a drink that was no longer cold. she had probably been there all day, honestly, but it was a place she felt comfortable, and since she was friends with the bartender, she got away with loitering. the person watching her, though? he had been there for maybe two hours, and his eyes hadn't left her once. if she had been eighteen, she would have confronted him the moment he sat down, but she had learned; if someone really wanted something from her, they would have to come to her.

huh. when had she gotten her uncle's patience?

the clock ticked slowly, and the tribrid heard every single second pass. though agent clarke had saved her from being a vampire at eighteen, twenty-one year old hope had not been so lucky. saving lizzie saltzman's life had taken precedence over her mortality, but it had damned hope to eternity. even immortals could find a way to die, though. didn't she know that better than anyone?

another glance at the clock. her aunt freya would expect her home for dinner soon. couldn't this stranger approach her quicker?

finally, the bar began to fill with the friday night crowd, and he approached, settling on the seat next to her. he ordered whiskey and downed it before glancing at her.

"hope. fancy meeting you here."

"agent clarke." there was a skip in her voice, the only sign that she was shocked. "i thought you died."

"you of all people should know death is rarely permanent. your family eluded death for thousands of years, and many are now living happily."

"what's your point?" she arched an eyebrow, finishing her drink and motioning for a new one.

"i suppose there isn't one. i just wanted to talk."

she scoffed. "that seems unlikely, clarke. you always have ulterior motives." she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "how are you alive, anyway?"

"my father released me from his grasp after the necromancer temporarily turned me into the pit. he was tiring of my subconscious. so i've been around since... what year is it again?"

"2035."

"ah, i see. well, i've been back since 2032. so, three years."

hope's drink came, and there was a lull in the conversation as she took a sip. eventually, she cleared her throat, turning her head toward him.

"why are you here, ryan?"

"so you do remember my name." there was something— a hint of smugness, perhaps— in his voice. unbeknownst to her, it was relief. relief that he hadn't been erased. it was the only kindness his father had ever given him.

"of course i do." her voice was soft, eyes softening as she took in the tired but hopeful look on his face. "we spent an eternity trapped down there together."

"trapped isn't quite the word i'd use."

"no, of course you wouldn't. you have some weird sadistic interest in making me suffer." there was a hint of guilt in the laugh that came with her words.

"it's not sadistic, and i don't want you to suffer, hope." he met her gaze for a long moment. even as she tried to look away, he held it, and she eventually allowed their eyes to lock once more.

"is he back? malivore."

"no." there was hesitance in his voice, to which she raised an eyebrow. "not for sure. he's dead and gone, but there are... i'm getting memories back."

"well, stop," she said forcefully. "i just graduated college, ryan. i don't want to give my life up yet."

"you don't have to." his hand reached for hers, clutching her drink glass. his settled on top of hers, tenderly pulling it away. "you're going to break that, if you aren't careful."

"since when have you known me to be careful?" she retorted.

"since your mother died." his words caught her off guard, made her pull her hand away. he didn't know her mother, didn't know the hell hope had gone through losing hayley or the burden that followed her since.

"how dare you—"

"hope. i'm just saying i don't want you to do anything irrational just to save everyone else. you just said you don't want to give up your life, but when did you start living?"

she paused, glaring at him. "i've been alive for twenty-three years, asshole."

"sure, but you haven't been living. you've been sacrificing yourself, your needs, your happiness, since the day your mother died. you told me that five years ago in malivore. that you have the world on your shoulders and always have. that you don't sleep well. that—"

"god, what is your _point_ , ryan?" she exclaimed, standing up from her chair. "why are you here? to make me miserable? i'm not going to sit here and take it."

the glass she had just been holding shook gently against the bar, the only sign her rage was out of control. she had mastered calm in her teenage years, but any mention of her parents... it tended to bring out her anger.

"i just— i didn't realize how much i cared for you until just now. i really did come to warn you about my memories, but... i missed you, mikaelson."

_i missed you too_ were the words that wouldn't come out. had she, really? he was the only person that truly got her, the person that made her feel a little less alone. when she had broken up with landon four years ago, clarke was, weirdly enough, the first person she wanted to tell. instead, she told lizzie.

so yeah, she'd missed him.

"i have to get home," she replied, pushing in her chair. "my aunts are expecting me."

"hope."

"ryan, i have to go."

" _hope_." he reached out a hand to stop her, but she brushed past him with ease.

"goodbye, ryan."

the tribrid made her way out the door, the wad of cash she left for her drinks— much more than necessary to cover them— on the table. the son of malivore watched her leave, an unreadable look on his lips as he murmured, "goodbye, hope."

they weren't meant to be a love story, and they knew that, deep in their souls. but it didn't mean they didn't want to be.

it was just too late.


End file.
